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I wonder what fraction of male Computer Science majors also come into their first semester with no programming experience. When I was a freshman, it seemed like

by holmak 11y ago

I wonder what fraction of male Computer Science majors also come into their first semester with no programming experience. When I was a freshman, it seemed like absolutely everyone in my CS classes had been programming for years, but surely that's not the case for everyone? Anyway, the bit about (comparatively) experienced programmers intimidating the other students in freshman classes is a real and terrible thing. I thoroughly support shoving all those students into a different class; it is disruptive to have them in an intro course.

brianwawok 11y ago
+1000. I had the most advanced programming experience my high school offered (Q-Basic baby), but 100 level programming classes were pretty insane. Would have helped to maybe have a few more new to programming type classes with others in the same boat...
ghaff 11y ago
I took a MOOC offered by one of the elite schools that was based on their intro CS programming class. Although I'm not a programming professional, I've done a fair bit and have at least a degree of familiarity with the language the course used--as well as some basic concepts like sort algorithms, etc. For me, the course wasn't exactly hard but it certainly wasn't trivial and, had I never written a program (or touched a command line), I'm sure I would have been completely and utterly lost. Sign up for any MOOC in this vein and there are obviously lots of people for whom it's a totally bewildering experience. By comparison, when I took my first computer class in college, it was a truly introductory FORTRAN course that really didn't assume any prior knowledge. I did have a little BASIC in high school but that wasn't very common at the time.
alistairSH 11y ago
I can't speak about today, but when I started college (1995), it was common for students in the intro CS course to have zero experience coding. Some had built basic web pages, some had used *nix machines, but not many with actual coding. But, this course was also required for ALL engineers, so there were many separate sections/classes, and probably 80% or greater weren't interested in CS as a degree/career.
- ghaff 11y ago
  I suspect, although I don't have the numbers, that there is a huge difference between 1995 and today. Open source was barely on most people's radar screens in 1995 and you're talking about the very early days of widespread Internet access.
  - alistairSH 11y ago
    Absolutely, that's why I included the year. I think '95 was the first or second year for campus-wide high-speed internet at UVA. VT was a year ahead and one of the first in the nation, if I remember correctly. All that said, the approach of splitting the introductory class up by previous experience makes some sense. I can't think of too many other subjects where the experience level would differ by so much at such an entry-level stage.
- fapjacks 11y ago
  Well that was 1995. At the time I was still getting beat up for being a computer nerd. Can you imagine someone getting beat up for using a computer today? The way I explain it is that it's almost like the 90s were in another century.
Lawtonfogle 11y ago
That is why my college did. It worked well putting all the more advanced students on a fast track class.
mafribe 11y ago
In my experience as a CS teacher at a university, probably 20% with no experience, and another 30% with a little experience. About 5% are already mature programmers when they come to university.

by holmak 11y ago

brianwawok 11y ago

+1000. I had the most advanced programming experience my high school offered (Q-Basic baby), but 100 level programming classes were pretty insane. Would have helped to maybe have a few more new to programming type classes with others in the same boat...

ghaff 11y ago

I took a MOOC offered by one of the elite schools that was based on their intro CS programming class. Although I'm not a programming professional, I've done a fair bit and have at least a degree of familiarity with the language the course used--as well as some basic concepts like sort algorithms, etc. For me, the course wasn't exactly hard but it certainly wasn't trivial and, had I never written a program (or touched a command line), I'm sure I would have been completely and utterly lost. Sign up for any MOOC in this vein and there are obviously lots of people for whom it's a totally bewildering experience. By comparison, when I took my first computer class in college, it was a truly introductory FORTRAN course that really didn't assume any prior knowledge. I did have a little BASIC in high school but that wasn't very common at the time.

alistairSH 11y ago

I can't speak about today, but when I started college (1995), it was common for students in the intro CS course to have zero experience coding. Some had built basic web pages, some had used *nix machines, but not many with actual coding. But, this course was also required for ALL engineers, so there were many separate sections/classes, and probably 80% or greater weren't interested in CS as a degree/career.

ghaff 11y ago
I suspect, although I don't have the numbers, that there is a huge difference between 1995 and today. Open source was barely on most people's radar screens in 1995 and you're talking about the very early days of widespread Internet access.
- alistairSH 11y ago
  Absolutely, that's why I included the year. I think '95 was the first or second year for campus-wide high-speed internet at UVA. VT was a year ahead and one of the first in the nation, if I remember correctly. All that said, the approach of splitting the introductory class up by previous experience makes some sense. I can't think of too many other subjects where the experience level would differ by so much at such an entry-level stage.
fapjacks 11y ago
Well that was 1995. At the time I was still getting beat up for being a computer nerd. Can you imagine someone getting beat up for using a computer today? The way I explain it is that it's almost like the 90s were in another century.

Lawtonfogle 11y ago

That is why my college did. It worked well putting all the more advanced students on a fast track class.

mafribe 11y ago

In my experience as a CS teacher at a university, probably 20% with no experience, and another 30% with a little experience. About 5% are already mature programmers when they come to university.